Re: number marking

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU]On
> Behalf Of Matt Pearson
> Sent: Thursday, December 16, 1999 5:10 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list CONLANG
> Subject: number marking
> Nouns have up to three forms:
>
> (1) If the noun is plural, indefinite singular, generic, or non-
> referential, or if it's a mass noun, then it's unmarked.
>
> (2) If it's a definite singular count noun, it's marked with the
> suffix "-ma".
>
> (3) If it's a noun of high animacy (people, spirits, higher
> animals), then the definite plural may be optionally marked
> with the suffix "-ngan".
> Question:  Has anybody else thought of a system like this?  Are
> there any natlangs that work this way?
As a matter of fact, I was thinking of something like that last night,
inspired by some post I saw (but have forgotten now). Unmarked nouns would
refer to a "class" of objects as a whole, with modifiers to "instantiate"
them (in C++ terms) into concrete objects. I kind of like that idea, since I
want unmarked nouns to have no specific number in Dhak, but the idea of
adding a suffix for a singular seems kind of iffy to me. Maybe I'll go back
to my old system of having different genders for concepts, animate things,
and inanimate things (My old intention was to have the concept gender
coincide in form with verbs, so that it could also be seen as an infinitive,
but I'm not sure how well that'd work).